Breaking News: Cima Corgo 2018

[Roy Hersh]

There has been some terrible news upriver and I will repeat word for word what I learned from a friend:

Extreme weather in the Douro yesterday evening around Pinhao, Quinta do Bomfim and the Pinhao Valley. 50 mm of rain fell in a half hour with a total of 90 mm of rain over three hours.

Over the past 30 years, the average rainfall for the entire month of May has been 45 mm. To have double the rainfall of the average month of May in just 3 hours has been terrible. Yields will be down due to this single storm, but no idea how widespread this is at this moment.

This devastating amount of rain has a big effect on erosion, with many stone terraces, and earth banks experiencing major damage too.

Additionally, localized hail storms has damaged the grapes in some vineyards too.

[Thomas V]

It sure looks very badly at Bomfim.

There is a video on facebook that shows just how massive amounts of water that came out of the sky in very little time.

https://www.facebook.com/1612283553/vid ... =3&theater

[Mike K.]

Wow! That’s terrible to hear and see.
Was in that area just last week.

[Eric Ifune]

Viera e Sousa reported some hail damage.

[Andy Velebil]

The biggest question is if flowering has taken place to a certain degree and if so did it knock them off or damage them? If so then that's a huge impact on grape clusters, or lack thereof, later on.

Hopefully there wasn't too much damage done.


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[Tom Archer]

Rain is not too much of a issue, although when it damages terraces that can be costly to restore. Hail is the real destroyer though - hopefully this is nothing like the disaster of '06..

On the positive side, think back a decade when the region had a few seasons of below average rainfall, and the doom-mongers were predicting that 'climate change' was going to turn the region into a desert and unsuitable for viniculture. - That narrative seems to have been parked now..

[Andy Velebil]

Rain is not too much of a issue, although when it damages terraces that can be costly to restore. Hail is the real destroyer though - hopefully this is nothing like the disaster of '06..

On the positive side, think back a decade when the region had a few seasons of below average rainfall, and the doom-mongers were predicting that 'climate change' was going to turn the region into a desert and unsuitable for viniculture. - That narrative seems to have been parked now..

Tom,
I will disagree with you. Most light rain is not an issue. Extremely heavy rain like what was seen in parts of the Douro can be an a very serious issue. As I mentioned, if the vines are still flowering, which they typically are around this time, that type of heavy rain can knock off the flowers. Without the flowers you don't get pollination and without that you won't get grapes growing on the vines later.

I just did a quick search on Google for a short article that covers this issue, here you go.

https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/flowerin ... -vineyard/

[Roy Hersh]

Flowering already took place. While in Douro, while visiting Roeda, Mourao and others, tiny grapes were already present on the vines.

[Andy Velebil]

Flowering already took place. While in Douro, while visiting Roeda, Mourao and others, tiny grapes were already present on the vines.

Is that your observation or from a winemaker? Because calyptras look like tiny grape bunches but aren't. (edit, see below)

Here is what I just found that Adrian had to say in The Drinks Business, so it appears you're wrong....

Speaking to the drinks business, Adrian Bridge managing director of the Fladgate Partnership said that over 80mm of rain had fallen in total on Monday evening (28 May) washing away soil, damaging terraces and roads (the Pinhão to Sabrosa road was cut for several hours) across the area and even sparking a flash flood in the centre of the town.

It took just three hours for over 80mm of rain to fall which is apparently double the average amount for May for the past 30 years.

With hail mixed in, the still developing foliage and flowers on the vines were ripped apart in many places and he said that in the company’s Quinta do Junco some 74mm of rain fell and losses are estimated at 80% – the equivalent of 200 pipes or 120,000 litres of potential wine.

...Paul Symington of Symington Family Estates said one of his company’s best vineyards, Choes at Quinta das Netas, planted with the white grapes Viosinho and Arinto had suffered around 80% losses as well

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2018/ ... the-douro/

[Rune EG]

My wife and I were in Douro when the extreme rain took place.
We were staying at Hotel Folgosa (just across the street from DOC restaurant), and we were going to have dinner at DOC that evening.
As we were ready to go to DOC close to 19.30 hrs, it became clear that we could not walk down the stairs outside the hotel and down to the road. A waterfall was coming from the small village above filling the narrow path where we normally go. Only way to get out was through the base floor of Hotel Folgosa, but there were abt 8-10 inches (abt 20-25 cm) of water everywhere. With the help of the hotel staff we managed to get down to the street and over to DOC. Our problem was tiny compared to what many people talked about, i.e. what was the situation at the wine yards?

There is only a few times in my life that I have seen so much water coming down in such a short time.

[Tom Archer]

I have read that Bordeaux has also suffered, with hailstorms wreaking chaos in many vineyards.

[Andy Velebil]

I have read that Bordeaux has also suffered, with hailstorms wreaking chaos in many vineyards.

Champagne region also got hit in spots. Very sad all-round.


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